Sympathy, desire of bettering our condition and propensity to barter

Jean Dellemotte ()

Cahiers d’économie politique / Papers in Political Economy, 2005, issue 48, 51-78

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that the two anthropological forces of accumulation brought to the fore by Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nation (the "desire of bettering our condition" and the "propensity to barter, truck and exchange") should not be considered as innate propensities of human nature but, on the contrary, as products of social interaction, more precisely of the action of sympathy. This article therefore presents itself as a contribution to the works that have been attempting, for about 25 years, to restore the consistency of the author's thought, by stressing the great complementarity of the different parts of his works.

JEL-codes: B12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
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